“I cannot promise we will sign anybody today, tomorrow, Tuesday or on Wednesday because at the moment we are not close to anything,” added Wenger. “It is not about optimism. How realistic I am is most important.”

Giroud now has 13 goals and nine assists for Arsenal, having followed up his brace against West Ham with another double against Brighton.

“It has been a good week for Giroud’s confidence,” said Wenger. “He gives us presence in the box and is always dangerous.

“We had a slow start against Brighton, but we were much better in the second half and created a lot of good chances.

“In the FA Cup, you need to go through to the next round so we did our job.”